The depletion and interruption of the delivery of fossil fuel supplies have focused much attention on the harnessing of solar energy as an inexhaustible source of clean energy for the future. In many regions of the country, solar energy has long been recognized as an available energy source for heating a building, but such systems have met with some resistance, mostly because of the physical space required by such systems and their cost comparisons with existing technology. Important factors in the size and cost limitations of a solar energy air conditioning system have been both the heat storage component and the air handler component of the system. These factors have contributed to the problem of retrofitting an existing structure with a solar energy system.
The existing solar energy air conditioning systems include an arrangement of heat storage components for receiving and storing heat energy from the solar collectors. Heat absorbed by the collectors during the peak daylight hours must then be stored in the system for use at a later time to provide a continuous source of heat to the interior of the building. Such systems also include an air handler having associated controls to mix the correct volume of air from the heat storage unit with the correct volume of air from the interior of the building. The air handler mixes the desired percentage of air from the collector with the desired percentage of air from the inside of the building and determines how much air goes back to the collectors and how much goes into the building. A need has thus arisen for an improved solar energy air conditioning system which improves the storage of heat from the solar collectors, the transfer of heat from the storage to the interior of the building, and simplifies the flow of heated air into the building.